Dungeon Fighter Online is the largest MMORPG in the world, but its success relies mainly on Asia. In the West, there was an attempt to win new fans with a spin-off – and it receives very good ratings on Steam.
Which game is being talked about? You can hardly believe it, but the action RPG The First Berserker: Khazan actually takes place in the same universe as the MMORPG Dungeon Fighter Online.
- Dungeon Fighter Online originally launched in 2005 as Dungeon & Fighter (shortened DNF) and is one of the most successful MMORPGs in the world.
- While Khazan’s origin story is a dark and hardcore 3D action game, which even challenged us during testing, DNF delivers classic 2D action.
- The great success of the MMORPG is largely limited to Asia; in the West, the game is relatively unknown.
Here you can see the opening cinematic for The First Berserker: Khazan:
Khazan aims to entice players to start DNF
That Dungeon Fighter Online is not a big name in the West is also known to the CEO of developer Neople: Myeongjin Yun. In an interview, Yun spoke with PC Gamer about the lack of success of the MMORPG in the West and what was anticipated from the solo adventure with Khazan.
Yun explains that the original DNF as a 2D sidescroller “might be a bit niche.” For this reason, they thought about introducing players to the Dungeon Fighter universe in another way. After trying it with the fighting game DNF Duel, they decided to give Khazan an action RPG format.
We wanted to develop Khazan to present the fast, intense action of the series and to highlight the storytelling and lore that the Dungeon Fighter franchise has built over the last decades.
Myeongjin Yun, CEO of Neople (via PC Gamer)
The experiment paid off, at least partially: The First Berserker: Khazan has recorded 90% positive reviews on Steam and had a peak of almost 33,000 concurrent players (via steamdb.info). It is, therefore, very well accepted on the platform. But has the action RPG also attracted new players to the MMORPG?
At least on Steam, there has been no noticeable increase in the player numbers of Dungeon Fighter Online since the release of The First Berserker: Khazan. The MMORPG is still played by only about 400 people there, and the reviews continue to be “balanced”. (via steamdb.info)
Dungeon Fighter Online continues to receive updates to this day. In March, a new expansion was released with the start of Season 9, which received great approval from fans. You can read more about it in this article: The largest MMORPG in the world gets a massive expansion, fans celebrate “the beginning of a new era”
